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Geographical Review.
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THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE YUGO-SLAVS*
By MILIVOY S. STANOYEVICH
The homeland occupied by the Slav race before the great migration of
nations appears to have been the basins of the Vistula, Pripet, and Dniester,
From this seat, in the period of the third to the seventh centuries, the
Slavs began to migrate and spread in all directions, towards the Baltic,
towards the lower Dnieper, and towards the Danube, i. e. into the Balkan
Peninsula. From the tribes moving towards the lower Danube originated
the Serbians, Croats, and Slovenes, known today under one name, the Yugo-
Slavs, or Southern Slavs.
INVASION OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA
The exact time when the Southern Slavs began to penetrate into the
Balkans is not known to a certainty. According to the Russian chronicle
of Pseudo-Nestor, there were, at the time of the Trajan conquests, Slavs in
Dacia; but the Volkhi or Vlakhi (i. e. Romance speakers) had conquered
and driven some of them to the Danube and some to the Vistula. The truth
of this may be inferred from the vestiges of bad repute which the name
of Trajan has left in Slavonic tradition. In any case we cannot say that
the Slavs occupied a large part of the Balkan Peninsula before the
beginning of the sixth century, when they appear in Byzantine history
as a new terror. By 584 they had overrun almost all of Greece and were
the most western neighbors of the Eastern Empire. In a book on military
art, "Strategica," ascribed to Emperor Maurice, directions were given for
dealing with the Slavs,1 and Emperor Leo set forth his theory of the
military principles to be used against them in his "Tactics."
By the end of the seventh century the Southern Slavs were permanently
settled throughout the whole of the Balkan Peninsula. On the extreme
west lived the Slovenes (Sloventsi), who occupied the regions now known
as Carniola (Krayina, Krain), Carinthia (Khorutania, Korushko), and
Styria (Stayersko, Steiermark). On the east of the Slovenes lived the
Croats, who came from the northern slopes of the Carpathians (hence the
names Carpati, Horvati, Hrvati). They extended their territory far be-
yond the limits of modern Croatia and included parts of Bosnia and the
Adriatic coast, where was nurtured a hardy race of sailors, equally fitted
* The author in this paper does not include the Bulgarians among the Yugo-Slavs. While they are
generally considered as belonging ethnically to the group (see e. g. Jovan Cvijic [Yovan Tsviyity]: The
Geographical Distribution of the Balkan Peoples. Geogr. Rev., Vol. 5, 1918. pp. 345-361; reference on p. 355),
the present political antagonism between the Serbs and the Bulgarians and the limitation of the proposed
Yugo-Slav state to the Serbo-Croats and Slovenes may foreshadow a gradual restriction in the future of
the term " Yugo-Slav " to the western branch of the Southern Slavs.-For names of geographical features
consult the ethnographic map of the Balkan Peninsula accompanying the paper by Cvijic cited above.-
EDIT. NOTE.
l See C. Yirechek: Istoriya Srba (History of the Serbians), Bk. 2, Ch. 1, Belgrade, 1911.
91
92 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
for fishing, commerce, or warfare. The eastern division of the great Slavic
migratory horde was formed by the Serbs (Serboi or Sirbi, as the Byzantine
historians called them). They colonized the land between the Isker River
and the Adriatic coast, including Serbia, Bosnia, Hertsegovina, Montenegro,
northern Macedonia, Slavonia, the Bachka, and the Banat.
THE ZADRUGA"
A most typical sign of Southern Slav social life is the custom known as
the zadruga. This is a community of 20 to 80 members knit together by ties
of blood and living adjacent to each other. The zadruga dates from a very
early period, perhaps from the time the Yugo-Slavs came to the Balkans.
As the primitive Dinaric population settled in an isolated and mountainous
region, this method of life probably owed its origin and maintenance to
the simple human necessity for companionship. Under Turkish dominion
it grew and expanded because the Turks demanded toll from every house,
and the peasants by living in zadruga style could include many homes
under a single roof, and thus pay but one tax for all. Being composed of
a greater number of members, the zadruga also received more respect from
national enemies.4 Although the zadruga is gradually dying out, it is never-
theless to be found more often in the Dinaric regions than in any of the
other parts of Yugo-Slavia.
The story of how the Slavs came to the Pannonic regions is told in the
pilgrimage of the Serbian patriarch Arsen III, who, escaping before the
on-coming Turks, left southern Serbia accompanied by 30,000 retreating
Serb families and fled along the valley of the Morava, over the Save and
Danube, to the fertile plains of southern Hungary. There they settled,
having been promised land and other privileges in return for their pledge
of protection to the Austrian Empire in case of further attacks by the
Turks."
The population of the Pannonic region as a whole has been influenced
by various tides of immigration. Syrmia, the Bachka, and the Banat in
their patriarchal life resemble the Macedonian type. Traces of ancient
Balkan civilization may be found there; while the people of Slavonia,
Syrmia, and Carniola, in their mentality reflect their contact with the
Dinaric type. It has been proved that people living on plains have a
spirit less alert than mountaineers. Such is the case with the Pannonics,
who as a rule are a farming class and in disposition are even-tempered
and emotionally static.
THE CROATSAND SLOVENES
The Croats and Slovenes are the representatives of Central European
civilization among the Yugo-Slavs. The Slovenes are known as great
organizers of industry and business enterprises in general. This quality
was strengthened in the economic struggle against their northern and
western neighbors.l2 The Croats are enthusiasts, poets, and idealists. The
founders of Yugo-Slavism were the Croatian patriots, Lyudevit Gay and
9 Jovan Cviji6: La P6ninsule Balkanique: G6ographie Humaine, Part V, Chs. 16-18,Paris, 1918.
10Transmontana, " beyond the woods," i. e. from Slavonia.
1 See H. W. V. Temperley: History of Serbia, London, 1917.
12See Bogumil Voshnyak: A Bulwark Against Germany, New York, 1919.
TJIE ETIINO()GRAI'IJY OF TlIIE YU GO-SLAYS 97